Carbon black particles are used in a number of fields, including inks, coatings, toners, adhesives, pipes, cables and color filters. In many cases, carbon blacks are dispersed in a liquid vehicle that can be either aqueous or non-aqueous. Carbon blacks can be treated with different materials to render them more readily dispersible in either aqueous or non-aqueous systems. Oil-based drilling fluids, often referred to as oil-based drilling muds (OBM), are often used to facilitate the drilling of oil and natural gas wells.